All posts in category gas chamber

The animals at the long troubled gassing pound in Shawnee, OK have been getting some help from area rescuers. With a paltry 48 hour holding period, rescuers must continually scramble to get pets out alive. They have reportedly been able to pull every dog at the small pound since May. But that streak ended last week when the city gassed three dogs, one of whom was reportedly slated to be pulled that morning. Tragically, the public outcry is being directed at the former owners (who may or may not be known) instead of those who actually killed the animals.

The Shawnee city manager, Justin Erickson, says the pound will, at some unspecified time, stop gassing and start killing via injection. He plans to talk more about that next year. Cause I mean, what’s the hurry, right? As for embracing the proven programs used by hundreds of open admission no kill shelters around the country, that’s a no:

“We are not able to transition to no kill at this time,” said Erickson during Monday’s city council meeting.

I assume that explanation will satisfy everyone paying for the shelter to not shelter animals. If not, maybe local animal advocates can stop dreaming up Evil Former Owner fantasies and start pressuring public officials to do their jobs. Or just let the city keep rescuers in continual crisis mode, with them gassing the occasional pet because they can, and enabling them by failing to unequivocally blame those doing the killing. The more the city is able to distract advocates, the more things stay the same.

Let’s be clear: Some shelter pets are lost. Their owners want them back. Others are in between homes. It doesn’t matter who used to own a shelter pet or how that animal arrived at the shelter. There is only now. Now is an opportunity to help the animal, starting with protecting his right to live. Everything else is a distraction.

Many readers probably remember the story of Major, the German shorthaired pointer who got lost in December in Elgin, OK. When the owner asked the city’s ACO about her dog, he offered up assorted lies, making her suspicious. The owner ultimately went into a pit of dead animals she found at the shelter and discovered the bloody remains of her pet, whose ears were missing. The city closed the pound and put ACO Daniel Linthicum’s contract on hold while the matter was investigated.

This week, there are some updates and ain’t none of them good. Major’s owners took his remains, as well as those of the dog whom Linthicum ultimately claimed had killed Major, to the state university for necropsies:

[D]octors could neither confirm nor deny the actual cause of Major’s death. But, they did determine Major had cancer in both lungs and was in bad health. They also determined the other dog had a whole ear and a piece of an ear in his stomach.

The attacking dog ate the ears? I’m no expert but that doesn’t sound like any dog fight I’ve ever seen.

Linthicum told investigators that when he found Major, he was still alive but barely. He gassed Major and the attacking dog to death using the exhaust from his truck. And if this sounds like some kind of rogue operation, you got that right:

During the investigation, it was discovered that neither the City of Elgin nor [Daniel] Linthicum had a shelter license through the state. A shelter license is required for any place housing 10 or more animals.

But it’s all good:

The findings of the investigation were presented to an assistant district attorney twice, who declined to file charges.

Gassing of animals in some sort of Rube Goldberg device using truck exhaust is horrifying. But to make matters worse, Major was severely compromised, clinging to life and likely gasping for air with cancerous lungs at the time he was gassed making it probable that he suffered even more than the typical victim of such a barbaric killing method would. I don’t know what sort of shape the other dog was in at the time but if a private citizen committed these acts there would be criminal charges.

And despite the city promising it would hire a new ACO, Linthicum is back on the job picking up animals, focusing mainly on wildlife and only handling pets in emergency situations. Because he’s demonstrated he handles those really well.

The next city council meeting in Elgin is February 10. Please for the love of popsicles let someone show up to talk some sense into the asshats paying this guy. There is something so obviously wrong here that Scooby Doo could solve the case all by himself. Taxpayers deserve better. They need to stand up and demand it.

On December 4, 2014, the Animal Welfare Section of the NC Department of Agriculture issued a policy statement regarding the use of gas chambers to all licensed euthanasia technicians and registered shelters. The letter can be read in full here.

In summary, the letter states that because the last major animal welfare organization still endorsing the gassing of pets, the AVMA, revised its position in its Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition, the state too is revising its position. The letter states that all shelters should immediately stop the routine gassing of animals and gives a compliance deadline of February 15, 2015. Exceptions for killing animals in the gas chamber will be allowed, in keeping with AVMA recommendations:

“Unusual or rare circumstances”

“Natural disaster”

“Large-scale disease outbreak”

Licensed euthanasia technicians are requested to contact the Department of Agriculture prior to gassing in order to explain the circumstances and see if the director of Animal Welfare agrees that the case qualifies as an exception.

Any facility which anticipates it won’t be able to stop gassing pets by February 15, 2015 has until January 7 to file a one-time extension request.

Paws Up to the NC Department of Agriculture for taking action to drastically reduce the conditions under which it will be legal for shelters to gas animals to death. It’s not as good as a ban, but it’s a solid step.

Paws Down for only doing it after the AVMA, the gas chamber’s last champion, finally arrived in the 21st century on the issue and stopped endorsing it for routine pet killing. No other major animal organization approves of gassing shelter pets. How many more years until the AVMA crosses the gas chamber off its list permanently?

Warning: Dead pet photos below text. Do not scroll beyond text if you wish to avoid.

In 2013, the Davidson Co pound in NC took in 3440 cats and killed 3167 of them. The facility took in 3319 dogs and killed 2322 of them. The pound also took in 8 bats, 3 foxes, 6 raccoons, 1 skunk and 1 snake and killed them all. The Davidson Co pound is a gassing facility.

Some of you have likely seen photos of the dead pets on the NC highway after they fell out of a truck transporting them from the Davidson Co pound where they had been killed. The photos were initially posted on Facebook by a concerned citizen who thought a pet killer was at large in the community. It was later confirmed that the Davidson Co truck’s tailgate had come open while transporting the carcasses.

When asked for comment by the Winston-Salem Journal regarding the incident, pound director Judy Lanier made her views plain as day:

“It was an internal employee mistake that’s been dealt with in less than 30 minutes,” she said. “Basically it’s a nonstory. There is one thread on one Facebook page where you’ve got less than 10 people beating a dead horse.”

This is the leadership in your animal “shelter” Davidson Co. The concerned citizen who photographed the dead pets was correct – there is a pet killer at large in your community. And you’re paying that person’s salary.

The Ohio SPCA has been trying to get Hocking Co to stop gassing animals for years. But the county has fought, both in court and in the court of public opinion, to keep gassing. After all, the county’s gas chamber is homemade and everyone knows homemade things are the best.

This month, the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Ohio SPCA and ordered the Hocking Co dog warden to stop gassing animals and start killing them via injection. The dog warden is already certified to kill animals by injection, it’s just that he didn’t feel like it, because who would when you’ve got a homemade gas chamber to play with?

A former assistant Dog Warden and humane agent, Chris Vickers, testified that when they were in the gas chamber, he heard dogs “screaming like they had been hit by a car and injured”. Gassing took several minutes and was not always effective in causing death. He would see dogs struggling, fighting, urinating and defecating on themselves. He routinely found blood, bite marks, feces and urine on their bodies when he removed them from the chamber after gassing.

“Not always effective in causing death” sounds like some pets were still alive after being tortured in the Hocking Co gas chamber. Those animals were presumably put back inside for more torture until they finally died. Yeah, I can see why the county is so head over heels with this thing.

The county lawyer argued that killing animals by injection is stressful for both people and animals. No mention was made of the stress from working in a place filled with carbon monoxide fumes and the sounds of pets being tortured to death. Also: homemade! Like on Etsy!

Hocking Co has 30 days to appeal the ruling to the Ohio Supreme Court. When contacted by the local news for comment, county officials hid.

The ruling may force other counties in Ohio to stop gassing pets as well since they too must comply with state law ensuring humane death for animals. The gas chamber is not humane and the recent court ruling upholds that.

Let’s be clear: Killing healthy/treatable animals for convenience is not in any way humane – even if it’s done by injection. But for rare cases when euthanasia is warranted to end the suffering of a medically hopeless pet, the most current humane method should be used. Thankfully, many communities have ended the practice of convenience killing in their open admission shelters. Hocking Co could join them, assuming the dog warden and county officials have stopped crying in their beer over the loss of their beloved torture device.

The government’s only criteria for killing appears to be a complaint from someone/anyone describing the birds as a nuisance. And the killing is done in the cruelest of ways, as detailed in this recent story from Youngstown, Ohio.

Two hundred thirty-eight adult geese and their babies were targeted for extermination at Mill Creek Park. Wildlife officials waited until June to kill the geese since they are most vulnerable at that time – the goslings are too young to fly and the adults have temporarily lost their ability to fly due to molting. Unable to escape their killers, these adult and baby geese were herded into a chamber and gassed to death – an agonizing way for animals of any age to die.

Let’s be clear: these are not fabricated numbers based on junk science like the now debunked cat claims, these are government reported numbers of kills. All done for convenience in the most horrifying manner imaginable. And paid for by American taxpayers. The feds seem to have something in common with local government run “shelters” with regard to convenience killing of animals – and that is not a good thing.

On January 9, a Good Samaritan in NC came across a dog who had been severely injured after being hit by a car and called 911. Dispatchers called an ACO from the Rowan Co pet killing facility. By the time the ACO arrived on scene, owner Jennifer Ridgell had been located and was crying over her dying pet who had accidentally escaped from the house earlier that day. Bandit had been rescued 6 years ago and was a beloved family member. But the Rowan Co ACO treated the badly injured dog like he was highway trash:

“He went to his truck, got a pole that had what looked like noose on the end of it, put it around his neck, jerked Bandit up — he was yelping — and threw him in the back of the truck,” Ridgell said. “There was no compassion.”

In addition to the cruel treatment Bandit received as he lay dying, the ACO further tortured the pet by placing him in the gas chamber after returning to the pound. NC state law specifically prohibits the gassing of animals who are near death.

The Good Sam, Keisha Woodward, complained to Rowan Co officials by sending this letter:

To whom it my concern:
I have a Rowan County Animal Shelter complaint. I tried to leave a message for Officer Staton but he has yet to return my call.
January 9th, 2014 around 7:30 or 8 on 52 in Granite Quarry near Sides Auto I stopped to help a medium sized black/white male dog that had been hit by a car. He was partially laying in the road so I turned around, blocked him from oncoming traffic and applied my flashers. A passerby stopped to help me as I looked for the owners in the surrounding houses. In the mean time I called 911, they called animal control and he then called me to find out my location. The only thing he did right was show up promptly nothing else from that point was ok in my opinion!
The dog was unable to move his back end, the right eye was hanging out of the socket and he had blood coming out of his mouth but still seem to be calm. I petted him and talked to him until his owners could come down. When they arrived I told them I had called animal control and he was on the way. I assured them if they did not feel like they would be able to care for the dog that the officer would put him down.
The lady was pretty shaken up after seeing the condition of the dog. Shortly the officer pulled up. The only thing he said is are y’all the owners? They replied. He said do you want the dog or not? No more than she got out of her mouth I don’t think there is anything that can be done for him, the officer took that pole with the loop and yanked that poor dog up off the asphalt and slung him into the cage! The dog was hollering, the lady started screaming and crying, her husband was trying to get her turned around to get her in the truck so she didn’t have to witness anything further. The Officer acted as if was doing them a favor by not charging them to put the dog down… Are you kidding me!!
When he arrived and seen the condition of the dog and with their consent that poor animal should have been euthanized on the spot with an injection!!
I was completely traumatized by what I had just witnessed. He gave them no warning as to you may not want to watch this or anything! I can guarantee if they had known that was going to take place they would have taken him home and took care of it themselves and I can tell you if I would have known that was going to take place I would have called someone with a gun and would have taken care of it right then and there!
NO one should have to watch their animal be treated in this manner and that was NO way to handle and already traumatized, mangled animal that was in pain!
This has haunted my mind since January 9th and I think something should be done about this so it’s not to happen to another poor helpless animal nor and animal owner. There needs to be an injection taken and the animal needs to be put down on the spot in such cases as this.
If you’d like to contact me please do so.
Thank you,
Keisha Woodward

“We’re sorry the family had to witness their animal suffering like that,” said Rowan County Commission vice chair Craig Pierce.

But when confronted about the apparent illegality of gassing a pet who was near death, Mr. Pierce offered:

“We are aware of it,” Pierce said.

Advocates say animal control should have used euthanasia by injection. Rowan County doesn’t have it yet, but Pierce said they soon will.

“If we have that on site, then we’re going to be able to give that animal a more humane ending,” he said.
[…]
The commission says they hope to transition to euthanasia by injection this year.

Rowan Co in fact does have euthanasia by injection on site, and has for some time as illustrated by county records (partially redacted by me) showing kittens who were killed via injection last year:

Jane Felts of the shelter pet advocacy group Fix Rowan followed up with her own complaint to county officials, demanding the termination of the ACO:

To Whom It May Concern,

I have reviewed the letter below from Keisha Woodward and frankly I am disgusted by her description of this incident. Actions such as those by Animal Control Officer Yaninas are unconscionable and in my opinion (and will be in the opinion of every other animal lover in Rowan County) not repairable by any disciplinary action less than termination. Incidents such as these cause people in the county to not call animal control in situations of neglect and cruelty where they need to be notified. THIS is a situation of cruelty perpetrated by a county employee. What she and this dog’s owners witnessed will stay in their minds forever. As if it were not bad enough to see their dog in such a bad state after being hit by a car what ACO Yaninas did to further this animal’s suffering and that of his owners is truly horrible. Is this the type of person that you want working for Rowan County? Frankly, I believe he should be prosecuted for what he did. This is also, sadly, not the first time that I have heard of such actions by this officer.

Further, Ms. Dee Lazenby was told by your ACO Thomas Staton that this animal had to be put in the gas chamber because you only had one employee available. Please explain that in light of the following section of the NC Animal Welfare Code which states that you must have two adults present to use the gas chamber:

02 NCAC 52J .0609 PERSONS REQUIRED TO BE PRESENT
A euthanasia chamber in a certified facility shall not be operated unless a Certified Euthanasia Technician or a veterinarian licensed in North Carolina and one other adult are present at the time of its use.

If this employee is not removed from his duties as an Animal Control Officer for the County of Rowan, what is now a private incident will quickly become public. Ms. Woodward and this animal’s owners are both willing to come forward and the media will be contacted.

I expect to receive a copy of the letter that is required to be sent to the state of NC when a certified euthanasia technician is terminated by next Friday, January 31st, 2014. This type of callous action towards animals should not and will not be tolerated. And if it is tolerated by the County of Rowan, then all citizens deserve to know that information.

02 NCAC 52J .0415 NOTICE OF TERMINATION
A certified facility shall notify the Animal Welfare Section in writing, no later than 10 days from the date of the termination of a Certified Euthanasia Technician’s employment or volunteer status at that certified facility.

Sincerely,
Jane Felts

If you want to contact Rowan Co commissioners regarding Bandit, please remember that respectful letters are far more effective at forcing transparency and reform. Threats of any kind are never acceptable.

If I had the money, I would buy this gas chamber myself and send it to the car squashing machine at the junkyard. It’s the only way to be sure this barbaric equipment will never again be used to inflict pain and suffering on animals. The county says someone could possibly buy it for scrap metal. Yeah that’s possible but sorry, I’m not willing to take any chances. The stakes are too high.

Unfortunately I don’t have the money. But if you are part of an animal welfare group with millions in the bank and you want to prevent any animals from ever being killed in the Medina Co gas chamber again, buy this gas chamber and destroy it. Because Medina Co won’t do the right thing. I’m hoping we can find someone to do it for them.

An anonymous donor has offered $10,000 to Medina County if officials agree to turn the county animal shelter’s gas chamber over to the Medina County SPCA to be destroyed instead of being offered on an Internet auction.

F-star-dollar sign-percent YEAH. Anonymous Donor, you can be my friend.

When HSUS gave Randolph Co, NC $3000 in December 2011 to send its gas chamber to the landfill, Randolph Co was all, “Yay, put that fat check straight into our bank account!” Then they kept right on merrily stuffing dogs and cats into the gas chamber. Of the 6705 dogs and cats who came through the Randolph Co pound’s front door in 2012, 5395 of them were killed by the staff.

In 2013, Randolph Co pound staff continued gassing animals instead of doing their jobs (although the state hasn’t yet released the 2013 numbers). After 2 years of continued gassing with no end in sight, HSUS finally got up the nerve to ask the county to either stop putting animals into the gas chamber or give back the $3000. The county decided it would be less painful to part with the cash so that they could hang on to their beloved torture machine.

It is shocking that a North Carolina county would return desperately needed funding for their animal shelter because they would rather continue a practice that has been denounced by every national humane organization. This does nothing but hurt the animals of Randolph County, for absolutely no reason.

Regular readers know that I have been posting about shelter pet advocate Casey Post’s efforts to reform her local shelter in Medina Co, OH. This week, Ms. Post again addressed her county commissioners but was forced to improvise a speech due to last minute developments on the reform front. I asked her to talk about what happened at the meeting, provide details on the deal made to save cats in Medina Co to the best of her knowledge, and discuss her plans for the future.

Ms. Post writes:

I got to the meeting room early, as usual. I had planned to deliver an open letter to the Commissioners from a euthanasia expert who certifies techs and vets in our state. His letter listed all kinds of methods for killing that were used in the past (horrific) and then indicated that the gas chamber was among those we’ve advanced beyond. He encouraged the Board to “be leaders” and embrace the newer method of euthanasia by injection and assured them that anyone who is certified is capable of handling even feral cats both safely and humanely. I was then going to discuss the benefits of neutered/vaccinated feral cats and ask for a change in shelter policy of immediately killing ALL ferals, regardless of their neutered/vaccinated status. I knew that Commissioner Hambley had just seen a low cost s/n operation in our county and was now aware that the public was spending their own money to get these cats neutered and vaccinated, so I had hope that he would at least consider the private effort going on there.

The Clerk of the Board (she’s very nice, VERY professional, and a cat owner) walked in and asked me if I was happy with the deal that was made. I told her that no one had informed me of a deal! She tried to find a copy of the article in the paper that had just come out that morning for me, but someone had taken hers. Thank goodness for wifi and smartphones. I searched for the news on what had gone down and found that there was a tentative deal with the Medina County SPCA where THEY would take all friendly strays and owner surrender cats for the county, but would not be accepting feral cats. [Ed. note: Reader Lisa submitted this link which reports on the deal.] Ferals would be referred to the low cost s/n clinic (I’m assuming at the trappers’ own cost – $25, but they do have a “pay it forward” program for people who can’t afford it that others donate to) so that the cats can be TNR’d. The only segment of the public NOT being served in this deal would be the people who want ferals just GONE, who don’t want to TNR. But, the MSCPA intends to apply for a grant to do TNR in 2014 for the county and they may be able to include relocation in that program for those who demand it.

So this deal would get the cats out of the hands of the Medina County Animal Shelter (and their amazing less-than-50% survival rate) and away from any possibility of a gas chamber (MSPCA euthanizes by injection with an actual veterinarian and they say that they do it as little as possible – not sure how they’re going to work the space issue, but I do know that they use volunteers and fosters, which puts them light years ahead of the shelter which allows neither and there is talk of keeping a waiting list if needed). This deal has potential to address the issue of the feral population in a humane and sensible way. It also has the potential to get our gas chamber designated as “surplus equipment” to be dispensed with as is best for the county (I vote scrap metal!). Bonus – all the Kuranda cat beds that I donated to the shelter would end up at MSCPA, where they will be needed. So hell yes, I’m pleased with the deal.

By now, the meeting room is packed (no, not with anti-gas chamber people, alas, but with people there to discuss transportation funding) and the time is coming up for me to speak and I’m not sure what to say – all I have is questions and the letter I was going to read out was no longer needed! I got up to speak first (because hey, why not?) and tried asking some questions of the Board, but they will not answer questions during the public comment bit, so instead I asked for the shelter to stop killing vaccinated/neutered ferals. I explained that this policy was both counterproductive to the effort to control the feral population and it also removed the rabies buffer between people and wildlife that these cats provide. I figured since the county suddenly seemed to be embracing the idea of TNR, I would try to save the ear-tipped or microchipped ferals that are still going straight into the gas chamber at the shelter (and will continue to do so until the MSPCA takes over cat duties). One of the commissioners made a note, so hopefully something will happen there.

After me, a woman got up to speak to ask about the gas chamber – would it be removed? When? She was nervous to speak too, but also determined. She wants that gas chamber GONE. I spoke with her and apparently, she’s been trying to make one of these meetings for weeks now and told me that I’m “her hero” for fighting this and she is in until the gas chamber is on the scrap pile. She’s another one of us who had NO IDEA what was going on at the shelter and she’s been a frequent visitor and has adopted cats from there, so she too feels betrayed.

The discussion session was interesting because of the money – the MSPCA wants $13K to take the county’s non-feral cats. A commissioner asked how much money is in “the kennel fund” (this is the money used to fund the dog part of the shelter via licensing fees – it could not by law go to caring for cats at the shelter, but CAN be given to a “humane society” for the purposes of caring for cats, so that’s where the $13K would come from). The County Administrator stated that the kennel fund has “in excess of $300,000”. The collective gasp, then silence in the room was a thing of beauty. All I could think was, “I had to DONATE dog beds and pet safe salt to them because they didn’t have THE MONEY???” At this point, one commissioner said, “Well then. I have no problem taking thirteen thousand dollars from there.” There was a question about how the shelter staff felt about this plan – apparently, they’re fine with it. The commissioners then voted to proceed with the deal.

Now, the deal is not yet completed and could still fall apart. The MSPCA and the county have to sign off on it – I’m told that this will occur some time next week. How soon after that the MSPCA will be accepting cats, I do not know, but we all hope it will be sooner, rather than later. In the meantime, we are trying to get the current cats out of the shelter and away from the gas chamber (which they will keep using until they have no more cats to stuff into it, apparently). Two cats (that we know of – there were more that we don’t know about because of the kill-anything-we-think-is-feral-whether-it-actually-is-or-not policy) were gassed last week and it would be fantastic if we could make them the last.

The woman who spoke after me asked me if I was going to the next meeting. I told her that I didn’t think so, that I wouldn’t know what to say since the deal-signing would happen AFTER the meeting. She vows to go to the next one to continue to press them on the removal of the gas chamber. She’s feisty and I like her a lot.

Do I completely trust that everything will be sunshine and rainbows from here on out? Absolutely not. But I will definitely be keeping an eye on things – not just at MSPCA, but also at the shelter. And if I need to keep advocating for change, I will. If the MSPCA goes wrong with it, then it wouldn’t be the weekly meetings – it would have to be the MSPCA board that I would have to petition for change as they are their own entity. Fortunately, they don’t seem to be the sort of people who would be ok with killing more than 50% of the cats that come in.

I’m backing off the meetings while the deal goes through because it seems like a very good deal. Laura (the other speaker) is going to spearhead the “destroy that filthy gas chamber” movement and that I’m backing her up in that. I’ll be keeping an eye on how things go from here on out both at the MSCPA and at the shelter, but I have reason to be cautiously optimistic for the future of Medina’s cats.

Advice for others trying to advocate? Attack policies, not people. I didn’t want to get into a position where the commissioners felt backed up against a wall to defend shelter employees (which was why I explained that they were victims of this shelter model, too). Also, listen to what it is that they’re really saying – in my case, it was, “We’re not really concerned with the gas chamber itself because we think it’s humane. We just don’t want to be swimming in cats.” It took me a while to understand that while I was talking shelter policies, they were talking shelter-as-population-control. If you truly believe that the gas chamber is humane, and that your shelter killing over 50% of the incoming cats is doing the community a “service”, you would be resistant to the one lady standing up and saying that you’re wrong. That’s where even a little physical back up really helps. Mark stood up and said, “I think she’s right. This is bad for Medina and I don’t want it.” Suddenly, I’m not the lone voice. Combine it with the letters and emails that came in to the commissioners and now they start to think maybe something needs to change, after all.